Prince Harry filled with guilt and ‘hating himself’ for his response to Meghan Markle’s suicidal thoughts

Prince Harry and Doria Ragland, Meghan Markle’s mother, are speaking out about the height of the Duchess of Sussex’s problems inside the royal family.

In the fourth episode of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, which debuted on Thursday, Ragland said, “I remember her telling me that, that she had wanted to take her own life. That really broke my heart.”

Ragland then connected Meghan’s mental health issues to how she had been treated by the world’s media.

“I knew, well, I knew that it was bad, to just constantly be picked at by these vultures, just picking away at her spirit that she would actually think of not wanting to be here,” she added. “That’s not an easy one for a mom to hear. And I can’t protect her. H [Harry] can’t protect her.”

“I was devastated,” added Prince Harry. “I knew that she was struggling. We were both struggling, but I never thought that it would get to that stage.”

“And the fact that it got to that stage, I felt angry and ashamed,” he continued. “I didn’t deal with it particularly well. I dealt with it as ‘institutional Harry’ as opposed to ‘husband Harry.’ And what took over my feelings was my royal role.”

“I’d been trained to worry more about what are people gonna think if we don’t go to this event, we’re gonna be late,” he added. “Looking back on it now, I hate myself for it. What she (Meghan) needed from me was so much more than I was able to give.”

Meghan Markle’s suicidal thoughts reveal

During the couple’s sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan first admitted to having suicide thoughts. She also acknowledged having self-harming thoughts at the time.

“I was ashamed to say it at the time and ashamed to have to admit it to Harry. But I knew that if I didn’t say it – then I would do it,” she said about her dark thoughts. “I just didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

She made the same claim in an interview with Oprah about how the palace ignored her request for assistance when she spoke to Netflix.

“I wanted to go somewhere to give help, but I wasn’t allowed to,” said Meghan. “They were concerned about how that would look for the institution.”

“They knew how bad it was,” added Harry about the royal family’s response. “They thought why couldn’t she just deal with it as if to say, ‘well, you know, everybody else has dealt with it. Why can’t she deal with it?’ But this was different. It was really different.”

“But actually if you strip all that away and say, ‘OK fine, it was exactly the same.’ So do we still believe that she should have just sucked it up like other members of the family? Or does one think that maybe it’s about time that we stop?”